


Don't Be Afraid

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Gen, Growing Up, Mutant Powers, Pregnancy, Self-Esteem Issues, Team as Family, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:02:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21664894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: A lot of people fear Jean for her telepathy. But Charles never will.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Jean Grey & Charles Xavier, Jean Grey/Logan (X-Men)/Scott Summers, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 65
Collections: Secret Mutant Madness 2019





	Don't Be Afraid

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Nanimok](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanimok/pseuds/Nanimok) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Jean learns that some people will never be comfortable with her telepathy. That's okay, though, because Charles is, and she'll always have him in her corner. 
> 
> Prompt Notes: Feel free to add side pairings like Charles/Erik, Charles/Logan, Jean/Emma, Jean/Scott etc. As long as Telepathy plays a big part in the story.

"Professor?" The little girl's voice echoed around the room, and Charles looked up from his notes, smiling at the redhaired girl who was standing at the entrance to his office.

"Hello Jean," he smiled. "Come in. Do you want to talk?"

She shook her head, then reached out for his hand. He sighed, patting her hair with affection. Her eyes were red with tears, and she had bitten her fingernails again.

"Is something bothering you, Jean?" Charles asked. He tried to avoid reading Jean's mind, finding her telepathy loud and chaotic - not that it was her fault of course, she was young and still learning. But sometimes it was easier to try and talk with words rather than telepathically.

"No?" Jean lied, then glanced down. "I mean.... I..." She hesitated. "Where's Mister Erik?"

"Erik's taken John to buy some new clothes, he accidentally burned his favourite shirt." Charles explained, and Jean smiled a little bit at that, clearly happy at the idea that other people sometimes had small accidents around their powers. It was only to be expected. 

"Oh..." Jean nodded, and wandered over towards the window. Charles was careful not to pry - partially out of respect, but mostly out of knowledge of the impending headache if he tried to dip into her thoughts. She gazed across the grounds, frowning, and he waited for her to choose to talk to him.

"Does Mister Erik let you use your..." she raised her hand, fingers resting against her temples in a familiar gesture. "Or... or does he not..."

"He lets me," Charles said, looking at her. "He quite likes it actually."

"Oh..." She sighed softly. "The others say I'm weird... that I should stay out of their heads."

Charles felt his heart break for her. He remembered how much it had stung when Raven had asked him to leave her thoughts alone. He'd been lucky with Erik, that he'd found someone willing to allow him in. Even among their own kind, people with their ability would always be hated. Jean was having to learn that lesson young, and he wished he could spare her that.  
"I'm sorry sweetie. Sometimes, people are like that. But that doesn't mean you're bad. Just sometimes people want to keep some thoughts private, okay?" he phrased it as gently as he could, and when she moved closer he let her climb onto his lap, cuddling him tightly as he continued. "And they might be embarrassed, and seem angry, but it's not like you did anything wrong..."

She nodded nervously, and he pulled back to look into her eyes.  
"Why don't I have... have a good mutation? Like... Like Bobby, or Kitty, or..."

"Your mutation is perfect for you," Charles comforted her, even though he knew his words sounded hollow. "No mutation is bad, Jean." He thought of students abandoned for their looks, of Marie who could never touch anyone, of those whose gifts were rejected even among their own kind. There mutations it was bad to be born with, for the sake of the person with them, but that didn't make the mutation itself bad.

Jean looked up at him, an adult expression shining in those young eyes, and then nodded.  
"I'm just scared. What if... what if no one ever loves me, or wants to be my friend?"

"You'll have friends." Charles promised, because he couldn't bear the thought of another child growing up alone in this vast place that should have been a home, and was often anything but.

She nodded slowly, and he smiled at her.  
"Why don't you go back to the others? Try not to go into their heads, okay? Remember what I showed you about shielding?"

She nodded, and he looked at her proudly.  
"You are remarkable, Jean. A remarkable girl, with an astounding gift. Don't let the world ever teach you differently."

***

There was a world where the world won. Where Scott died, and Jean died as well, and something else took her place, destroying and destroying until she was destroyed.

***

There was another, where Jean won, in the end. She fought back, and saved lives, and even though she almost lost herself, she held on.

***

There was a final world. One where things shifted, had already changed in unknown ways. Where the telepath found her role teaching at the school, her husband close at hand, and their boyfriend crashing in their room more often than not.

Jean learned, in time, that she didn't always have to be alone. She learned her gifts could be beautiful - when she felt the warmth Logan held in his heart for her, or saw Scott's smile - just like Charles had said. Because her powers were strong - breathtakingly so. But that didn't mean she was a bad person, or that she deserved to be looked at in fear.

***

She watched as the Professor wheeled along beside his husband, the two of them making their way past the lines of rose bushes, strolling together in the afternoon sunlight.  
_I can hear you there Jean. You don't need to be afraid._ His voice in her mind was a familiar comfort, not the threat she knew some saw it as. It was a reminder that there was good in her powers, and in her heart.

She stepped forwards, the sunlight dappling across her skin, and paused in front of him.  
"I'm not afraid Professor."

He looked up at her, a fond smile twisting the edge of his lips. He shook his head after a moment, fondness shining in his eyes, and he moved to squeeze her hand.  
"No, you aren't, are you? You haven't been afraid in a very long time." He paused, looking her over, and smiling at the faint glow of warmth within her, what it meant.  
_A child?_

 _Apparently._ She answered with a smile. _I don't know whose... I don't mind. But I can already hear her._

The Professor nodded, wiping back a tear.  
_Hello, little one._ he reached out with his mind, and she felt the warmth of it within her.

 _We've been discussing Charlotte, since Charles wouldn't suit her-_ Jean started to explain, and Charles nodded.

_Congratulations, my dear girl. I always knew you'd find happiness._

Jean nodded, embracing him for a moment and then returning to the school, a fond smile on her face.


End file.
